First person to survive drop over Niagara Falls

On 24 October 1901, American schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive the 51-metre drop over New York’s Niagara Falls when she plummeted over Horseshoe Falls – the largest of the three Niagara waterfalls – in a barrel. A crowd stood at the foot of the falls to witness her attempt, many convinced she was facing certain death. However, she emerged – battered and bruised, but alive. The feat was made all the more impressive by the fact that Taylor was 63 years of age at the time. In 1911, British man Bobby Leach became the second person to ride a barrel over the falls. He broke both kneecaps and his jaw against the inside of his steel barrel. In total, between the years of 1901 and 1955, 15 people attempted to mimic Annie Taylor’s daredevil plunge. Only 10 of them survived.